In recent years, ionic liquids have been extensively evaluated as environmental-friendly or “green” alternatives to conventional organic solvents for a broad range of organic synthetic applications. Ionic liquids offer some unique characteristics that distinguish them from conventional organic solvents, such as no effective vapor pressure, a broad liquid range, high polarity and charge density, can be either hydrophobic or hydrophilic, and unique solvating properties. One widely studied class of ionic liquids includes imidazolium salts, such as 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate, also known as [bmim][PF6]. Other well known ionic liquids include 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride-aluminium (III) chloride, which is usually referred to as [emim]Cl—AlCl3; and N-butyl pyridinium chloride aluminium (III) chloride, which is usually referred to as [Nbupy]Cl—AlCl3. A broad range of ionic liquids have also been investigated in the following references: U.S. Pat. No. 6,048,388; U.S. Pat. No. 5,827,602; U.S. Patent Publications: US 2003/915735A1; US 2004/0007693A1; US 2004/0035293A1; and PCT publications: WO 02/26701; WO 03/074494; WO 03/022812; WO 04/016570. Published PCT Application WO 2004/003120 discloses ionic liquid based products suitable for use in surface or air treating compositions, and ionic liquid cocktails containing three or more different and charged ionic liquid components. The products are particularly useful in various consumer product applications, such as home care, air care, surface cleaning, laundry and fabric care applications.
It is desirable to take advantage of the various unique characteristics of the ionic liquid in cleaning products to improved cleaning performance. Specifically, compositions containing ionic liquids, more specifically, biphasic or multiphasic compositions containing ionic liquids are advantageous in delivering superior cleaning performance. Additionally, it is desirable to provide a cleaning method capable of delivering improved cleaning performance through the use of ionic liquid-containing compositions. These compositions and methods are advantageous in that they provide cleaning benefits while employing materials recognized as environmentally friendly. These and additional objects and advantages will be more fully apparent in view of the following detailed description.